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Mockingjay’s Iffy Cliffy

It’s been debated, questioned, and mulled over for months upon months now: Where exactly will Mockingjay Part 1 end?

Movie splits are usually pretty high tension, some everyone had their theories. Realistically, it broke down to two: 1) Peeta and Katniss’ reunion in District 13 in which things get a little choke-y or 2) After Katniss has become fully aware of Peeta’s condition, feels hopeless, and begs to be sent to District Two. There are a few others, like after she gets shot in Two or after Finnick and Annie’s wedding, but we don’t see those as being quite so likely.

While Mockingjay Part 1’s ending still technically remains a cliffhanger, Jennifer Lawrence has got us thinking that there can only be one real scenario after she spoke to Cineplex Magazine about the ending:

“Oh God, I don’t want to tell you that. It’s a really great ending, and you guys are going to be pissed.”

If audiences are really going to be as pissed off as J-Law seems to be suggesting… OH MY GOODNESS, WE’RE SO HAPPY!

Like 30 seconds after this shot, probably! *sobs*

Out the the two above scenarios, the truly justified RAAAAAAAGE scenario is the screen blacking out just as Katniss blacks out, while being choked by Peeta. It’s the ultimate WTF moment of the series. If the film ends there, there’s no explanations, understanding, or time for Peeta pity. There’s just confusion and rage for fans who don’t already know what’s coming (and even for some of us who do) and the outrage will be beautiful!

Outrage and anger is what this series is going for, but sometimes that’s easy to forget. The Capitol’s manipulations, the ones that turn people against each other so they can maintain power, are the major atrocities of this book. What better way to make people feel like that to have Peeta inexplicably turn against Katniss?
Also We May Be Sadomasochists,The Girl With The Pearl

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12 comments

I’m thinking it won’t be there. Francis Lawrence has hinted in past interview that it would be unexpected, and no scenario seems more expected than when Peeta is choking Katniss. I wonder if it will be when she asks to be sent away. People might be a bit pissed that Katniss, after all of this, just up and leaves Peeta.

I would say that for people who don’t know the books (for whom everything is expected, really), Peeta attacking Katniss is the most unexpected moment in the series. As a director, we imagine he’s discussing it from a fresh moviegoers’ perspective.

People may be peeved at Katniss for leaving Peeta, but the story will give us a level of understanding as to why she did it. She can’t be around him or help his recovery, he’s receiving great medical attention, she’s hurting and needs to feel useful elsewhere. With those things established and in mind, righteous anger seems like a bit much.

Well, I think there’s still a likelihood that “send me to 2” might actually be the ending, because while ITA with you that there were understandable reasons for Katniss leaving for D2 at the time, the idea that “Katniss coldly abandoned Peeta” is something many fans still hold as a canonical truth. This was the impression they got when they first read the book, and it’s an impression many continue to hold. So I can certainly see movie-goers reacting the same way.

Now, I used to try to explain why Katniss did what she did, but I’ve pretty much given up because I don’t think I’ve ever convinced anyone to forgive Katniss for “abandoning” Peeta. (Even though most of the fans who insist “she could have done something” can’t actually tell me what that “something” was.)

What happened in MJ is one big reason many fans think Katniss didn’t “deserve” Peeta, and many fans stopped seeing Katniss as a heroine because of “the horrible way she treated Peeta” (never mind endangering the lives of fellow soldiers on her futile “kill Snow” mission or shooting down an unarmed civilian).

All that being said, at this point it does seem the most obvious ending, the strangling scene, will indeed be where the movie ends. I personally think this is the easy way out and all, but I suppose it will certainly generate buzz for Part 2.

Out of all the possible endings, ending with Peeta choking Katniss is the worst possible one. A movie is not a first part of a season finale of a TV show, with the episode that resolves the cliffhanger airing the next week. And even if it were, not even TV shows normally end episodes with “WTF just happened?! I don’t understand anything!” cliffhanger. The good cliffhanger is the one that makes you think “OMG what will happen next?” but not make you think that you have no idea what is going on.

If some people don’t get it, they won’t ever get it. Why worry about them? Underestimating the intelligence of the majority of the audience and catering to certain factions of fans who can’t deal with 1) emotional complexity 2) the fact that likable major characters don’t always get along, 3) female characters who don’t fall at the feet and worship the popular male characters and 4) are “self-centered” and “bitchy” enough to not be OK with their own abuse, and have the audacity to place their own well-being or trauma ahead of the noble goal of worshiping the popular male character, has been the undoing of GoT as an adaptation of ASOAIF.

We’re pretty positive that no, that has nothing to do with the ending. That’s the attack on District 13, which happens long before Peeta returns and his return is shown in other promos, so we’re looking at least the strangling or something following.

Again, are you sure that’s an attack on Thirteen and not a rebel attack on a Capitol-run facility? Those Peacekeepers looked like they were defending the place.
Not to mention Peeta’s commentary in the book.

Though yeah, agreed that it will have nothing to do with the ending but rather the war.

There’s just so much potential in terms of symmetry if it ends as how you describe it with the strangling.
THG ended with a symmetrical shot of Snow going to plot something.
CF ended with a symmetrical shot Katniss grieving.
This one could end with Peeta.

Though on the same note, the movie ending with Katniss telling them to send her to Two could also piss off a ton of viewers as this is where she writes Peeta off as a lost cause.
You could still have the symmetry if you pan over to Peeta seething in bed.

So either way, the ending will probably have viewers go “What the hell, hero?”